Emery Coxe Professor Kopper 5/19/2009 COLT 60 S09 "Got to keep the loonies on the path": Alienation through Unity in Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon “B-bmp, b-bmp, b-bmp…” Slowly out of the silence of the first track, “Speak to Me”, rises the illustrious heartbeat that permeates the soundscapes of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, resurfacing surreptitiously and sporadically as the album progresses until its climactic finish, “Eclipse”, where, after the music culminates in both intensity and intent, the listener is left in a soundless vacuum pierced only by the rhythmic cadence of that same heartbeat, fading to oblivion. From a purely symbolic perspective, this beating heart suggests that Dark Side is more than electronic instrumentals, dubbed vocals, and experimental effects – that there is something organic, something vital, something alive about this record. Surely, when one considers the album’s structure – a singular, continuous, fluid concept rather than unrelated and unconnected tracks – Dark Side seems more an entity than a simple construct. And Dark Side’s
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Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon: Tracing Alienation through Musical Unity
This essay delves into Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, analyzing the band's history and development leading up to DSOTM. Then, the band's uncharacteristically efficient use of the studio is examined with respect to the final cut of DSOTM. The paper concludes with a track-by-track analysis of DSOTM, noting the particular effects/instrumentals on each song and how they augmented Roger Water's treatise on modernity.
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Emery CoxeProfessor Kopper5/19/2009COLT 60 S09
"Got to keep the loonies on the path": Alienation through Unity in Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon
“B-bmp, b-bmp, b-bmp…” Slowly out of the silence of the first track, “Speak to
Me”, rises the illustrious heartbeat that permeates the soundscapes of Pink Floyd’s Dark
Side of the Moon, resurfacing surreptitiously and sporadically as the album progresses
until its climactic finish, “Eclipse”, where, after the music culminates in both intensity
and intent, the listener is left in a soundless vacuum pierced only by the rhythmic cadence
of that same heartbeat, fading to oblivion. From a purely symbolic perspective, this
beating heart suggests that Dark Side is more than electronic instrumentals, dubbed
vocals, and experimental effects – that there is something organic, something vital,
something alive about this record. Surely, when one considers the album’s structure – a
singular, continuous, fluid concept rather than unrelated and unconnected tracks – Dark
Side seems more an entity than a simple construct. And Dark Side’s history corroborates
this notion: with “741 weeks on the Billboard Hot 200 chart”, over 34 million album
sales, myriad rankings among the top of Greatest Albums lists, and “8,000 new copies
sold each year…in America alone”, it is readily apparent that Dark Side has rooted itself
in our collective psyche and is relevant and alive even among today’s audience (Bailey,
xiii). What remains unclear, however, is why? Why have 42:59 minutes of progressive
rock captured the reverence and awe of untold millions, inspiring countless musings and
developing a quasi-mythic legacy? Perhaps it owes to the contents of the lyrics –
existential ethics that pertain, in particular, to the concept of alienation in modern society.
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Perhaps it is the ingenuity of the music. Or perhaps the answer lies elsewhere, unknown
and ineffable. While we may never succeed in answering this fundamental question, it is
still possible to shed some light on the darkness surrounding the album’s success.
Particularly, by analyzing the unity and collaboration of the band members while
recording Dark Side – resulting in one of the most cohesive albums of all time, both
musically and thematically – I posit that Pink Floyd created the ideal canvass to paint
their polemic against alienation in modern society, a concern every bit as applicable to
today’s society as that of 1973.
While the key to understanding Dark Side lies, in part, with the process of its
production, equally important is the development of Pink Floyd as a band leading up to
this musical masterpiece. By 1965, The Pink Floyd Sound – the initial incarnation of the
group, led by Syd Barrett and consisting of all other members less David Gilmour – had
played their first show in England, and by 1967, they were well known among Britain’s
Underground as pioneers of space/psychedelic rock (by now, they had dropped the
‘Sound’ from their title). However, Pink Floyd’s future as a band in 1968 rested
precariously on their ability to replace their visionary, songwriter, and primary source of
“creative input” Syd Barrett, whose mental health had deteriorated – most likely due to a
latent disorder brought out by the pressures of life as a musician and his relentless
consumption of mind-altering substances – so much that it disrupted their live
performances (often in memorable and disturbing ways) (Harris, 44). Enter David
Gilmour – an old acquaintance of the group – who was initially brought in as a second
guitarist to cover for Syd when he was not in sufficient playing condition, and soon
thereafter relieved Syd altogether. But with Syd gone, and without the source of their
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spacey sound, the outlook for Pink Floyd was bleak, as no other members had
demonstrated any substantial creative ability to produce songs. As their manager Peter
Jenner, who quit once Syd was gone, expressed, “For us, it was ‘What the fuck are we
going to do if Syd’s not there?’” (Harris, 55).
Yet this pessimistic prognosis was flawed: with Barrett out of the picture, the
group, led by Roger Waters, churned out a new CD, A Saucerful of Secrets, that focused
musically on “mastery of atmosphere” rather than melodic pop hooks (Harris, 58). And
while the Barrett-less group’s initial work outputs seemed “a dogged attempt to maintain
the group’s momentum, compromised by…[a] lack of any hard-and-fast ideas”, they
maintained a solid fan base, and due to the musical culture of the period, which hastened
the artistic drive of musicians due to the “sheer velocity of its schedule”, Pink Floyd
released a substantial amount of material between 1968 and 1973 – Ummagumma, Atom
Heart Mother, Meddle, and several film soundtracks (Harris, 60,62). In retrospect, these
works were stepping stones towards Dark Side, as they allowed the Floyd to experiment
with new sounds, to explore new grooves, most of all, to find their creative stride. As
Gilmour stated, “If you take A Saucerful of Secrets, the track ‘Atom Heart Mother’, then
the track ‘Echoes’ – all lead quite logically towards Dark Side of the Moon.” (Harris, 58-
9). And certainly, by 1972 Dark Side was itching to escape the creative confines of the
group member’s minds: “dying of boredom”, having already written “The Violent
Sequence” for the Zabriskie Point and “Mortality Sequence”, early manifestations of “Us
and Them” and “Great Gig in the Sky”, respectively, and having articulated the driving
theme (human empathy) behind Dark Side in ‘Echoes’ – “Strangers passing in the
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street/By chance two separate glances meet/And I am you and what I see is me” – Pink
Floyd had paved a solid foundation for what was to come (Harris, 72, 78).
All of this came to a head in 1972, when the band booked rehearsal studios during
tour breaks to “add new material to their live repertoire” – material that, when finished,
would comprise Dark Side of the Moon (Harris, 78). From polishing previous songs – for
example, “The Violent Sequence” – to re-writing recent material (“Breathe”) to creating
original compositions, Pink Floyd grooved through the kinks as a collective unit to create
a unique sounding body of music. As Waters expressed, “Making The Dark Side of the
Moon…was a very communal thing… ‘From each according to his ability, to each
according to his need’” (Harris, 79). After a short stint of rehearsal, Floyd hit the road,
touring to promote their album Meddle, and each show featured a performance of
Eclipse, the functioning title of what would become Dark Side. And as Floyd became
more familiar with performing Eclipse, the songs, sounds, and titles continually evolved,
refining what they had previously written and tightening their collective sound. But while
the concepts behind Dark Side had initially been conceived outside of the recording
studio, not until their sessions in Abbey Road, beginning in May 1972, where the band
benefitted from collaboration, concentration, and creativity, did the musical ingenuity
that characterizes the album truly pour forth.
In marked contrast from earlier recording sessions, by the time Pink Floyd entered
the studio to begin recording, “Dark Side of the Moon was a fait accompli...very
structured, together” (Harris, 104). Thus, the band was able to utilize the studio a much
more efficiently than in the past – to enhance and perfect their compositions, rather than
conceive them. Aided by audio engineer Alan Parsons, the group began laying their